India 253 for 7 (Samson 89, Dube 43, Kishan 39, Jacks 2-40, Rashid 2-41) beat England 246 for 7 (Bethell 105, Jacks 35, Hardik 2-38) by seven runs
Set an unearthly 254 to win, after Samson had backed up his crucial 97 not out against West Indies with another mighty innings of 89 from 42, England lost three wickets in the powerplay, and eventually drifted out of contention as India’s seamers held their nerve in the death overs to leave an improbable requirement of 30 from the final over.
In the final analysis, however, it was the fine margins in the field that made the key difference. Where Harry Brook dropped an utter clanger in the third over of the match, to reprieve Samson on 15 and leave his hapless bowler, Jofra Archer, winded and mojo-less, India’s defense turned on two stunning pieces of work from Axar Patel in the deep.
The first, at deep cover, showed Brook how it’s done, as England’s likeliest matchwinner was extracted for just 7 from six; the second, at deep backward point, was an incredible running relay effort to intercept an uppercut from England’s Player of the Tournament, Will Jacks, whose 77-run stand for the fifth wicket with Bethell had given England a strong chance as they approached the final six overs.
Brook’s blunder signals India’s charge
By the end of a 67-run powerplay, however, the inevitable was already charging into view. Samson had come into the contest with an unfavorable match-up against Archer – three dismissals for 23 in 25 previous deliveries in T20Is – but he also had the momentum of his match-winning knock at the weekend. He scarcely needed a helping hand to send his innings into overdrive.
Brook offered it nonetheless. It is hard to conceive of a more costly drop than the one England’s captain committed at mid-on in Archer’s second over. Samson had already cashed in on his shorter length, with two fours and a six in his first six balls, when Archer aimed a yard fuller and induced a scuffed drive at throat height. It was a dolly by any measure, and Brook’s face was a picture of guilt – first as the ball burst through his fingers, and then when Samson bludgeoned Archer high over the leg side two balls later.
Full steam through the middle
Archer retreated with figures of 0 for 26 in two overs, to be replaced by Jamie Overton, who strayed far too full throughout his night’s work, and then by Sam Curran, whose change-ups could not stem the tide either. Samson was too well set to be suckered by the moon-ball, which he dutifully plonked over the head of mid-off.
The gloves were off from that point on. Curran returned for a change of ends but was subjected to a 20-run tag-teaming, and at 112 for 1 after nine overs, jeopardy had left the building for India’s batters. Kishan flogged one last boundary before miscuing Adil Rashid to long-off for 39 from 18, but out strode Shivam Dube to exact revenge with two huge strikes over long-on in the legspinner’s third over.
Archer’s return for a rare mid-innings foray telegraphed England’s desperation. But Samson, similarly, had eyes only for the boundary, and none on imposing milestones. He continued to accelerate into his night, marching into the 80s with two more sixes to take his personal haul to seven, before that man Jacks lobbed a wide length ball across his bows to induce a miscue to deep cover. Since the start of India’s must-win in Kolkata on Sunday night, Samson had battered the small matter of 186 runs from 92 balls.
Death-overs frenzy
The only moment of genuine traction for England came in the 18th over, as Curran closed out his tough night with an excellent array of yorkers. And yet, he still went for 12, as Dube clubbed his fourth six before being sold a dummy by Hardik Pandya… who then lost control of his bat in a slog through the line, only for Tom Banton to spill the resultant chance at long-on.
Archer’s final over wasn’t anything like the same quality. He retreated with gruesome figures of 1 for 61, as Tilak Varma slotted three sixes in four balls before inside-edging onto his stumps for the most pyrrhic wicket of the night. Thereafter, Hardik was able to farm the strike for his favorable match-up with Jacks, belting two last sixes over the leg side to romp India past 250.
Bumrah up the sleeve
The good news for England was that Phil Salt flicked their first ball of the chase through fine leg for four, and that Jos Buttler also found the boundary for the first time in six innings, with an emphatic thump over the covers two balls later.
Bumrah’s eventual entry, for the fifth over, produced a moment of poetry. A first-ball cutter suckered Brook straight out of the hand as he skied the ball high out to extra cover, but if that was good, then the snapping of the trap was even better, as Axar tracked back from the edge of the ring and clung on with a full-length dive, looking over his shoulder.
Back Bumrah went, up Suryakumar’s sleeve, not to be seen again until the 11th over, and then hidden again until the 16th, by which point an eight-run over was gold-dust. His pinpoint dot-ball yorker to Curran was greeted with one of the loudest cheers of an already raucous night.
Such was England’s refusal to buckle, however, that with 45 still needed from 18, Bumrah had to go again. A barrage of perfect yorkers offered up just four singles and a two, to leave England needing back-to-back 20-run overs. That was the game, there and then.
Bethell at the double
Bumrah’s extraction of Brook had been a perfectly targeted strike, but Bethell strode out with a refusal to be overwhelmed. He silenced the Wankhede’s “Boom Boom” chants with a second-ball swivel-pull for six over fine leg, and then greeted Varun Chakravarthy with three more in a row, over long-on, long-off and deep third, as if to plant his 360-degree versatility like a flag.
In the same over, however, England lost their third powerplay wicket, and another of their kingpins. Buttler’s ugly campaign had flirted with resuscitation even as he kept losing his shape on a succession of heaves across the line. However, for the third Wankhede innings in a row, he reached the 20s at a 150 strike rate and then immediately gave it away, this time to a flat-footed waft across Varun’s googly.
Astonishingly, England still emerged from the powerplay one run to the good – 68 to 67 – but at three wickets down, it was already a clear race between runs required and wickets standing. Banton got the memo by drilling Axar’s first two deliveries down the ground for sixes before ruining the moment by slogging over the top of a more flighted follow-up, but Bethell took further lumps out of Varun’s figures with back-to-back fours to bring up England’s hundred in the ninth over.
His maiden Test century in Sydney had been an astonishing display of precocity and shot selection; This awesome effort was everything that he had forsaken to produce that innings and more. The self-sacrifice he had shown in his judgment outside off in January was translated into a full repertoire of 360-degree strokeplay. Until his ODI hundred against South Africa last summer, he had never previously made a professional century. Now, he has joined an exclusive club with three figures in all three formats. One thing is for sure, this won’t be the last the Wankhede crowd will see of him.
Andrew Miller is UK editor of ESPNcricinfo. @miller_cricket
